"Rob Gillies and his team gather data on Nepal’s changing climate for a research project. They log temperatures, raindrops and snow. They pump the numbers into powerful computers and read the trend lines the computers spit out. Gillies sees the numbers in human terms, too. Global warming is likely to mean less water, putting crops and livestock in peril, along with nourishment for children who already don’t get enough to eat. That leaves the climate scientist with questions instruments can’t answer. About fairness. Justice. And life and death."

"'I see it as a scientific issue,' said Gillies, Utah’s state climatologist. 'But, given my experiences in Nepal and elsewhere in the world, I see a moral aspect to it beyond science.'

He is not alone in expanding the conversation about climate change beyond politics and science on the eve of the 44th Earth Day."